The invention generally relates to shields for use in the medical profession, and more particularly to a device for use in protecting a patient during the removal of an immobilizing cast, hereinafter referred to simply as a cast, employing a cutting device such as a cast saw having a circular blade.
As can readily be appreciated by those familiar with the use of cast saws in the removal of casts such as those formed from plaster of paris, a cast saw includes a circular blade having peripheral teeth which serve to form a kerf as oscillatory motion is imparted thereto. Unfortunately, the skin of a patient often times is subjected to injury as a consequence of a saw blade inadvertently penetrating too deeply into the cast being removed.
Attempts to avoid such injury have lead to the use of a simple ruler being inserted between a cast to be removed and the skin of a patient for thus protecting the patient's skin from the saw blade being used for cutting the cast. While this technique has been successfully employed on many occasions, it has been found that there is a distinct tendency for the saw blade to move off the ruler and thus injure the patient. This results, usually, from a lack of an ability to visually observe the position of the inserted ruler, as well as from an inability to form a straight kerf. Consequently, the removal of casts remains a difficult and time-consuming task.
Therefore, while devices such as rulers and the like have been employed with varying degrees of success, it should be apparent that there still exists a need for a practical and economic device which can be readily employed for expediting the removal of casts, using cast saws, without subjecting patients to injury.
It is, therefore, the general purpose of the instant invention to provide a practical, simple, and economic device which can readily be employed in successfully shielding patients during the removal of casts, whereby cast-removal operations may be expedited while simultaneously reducing the likelihood that patients will suffer saw-induced injury.